Abstract: Clarifying the spatial and temporal variability of ecological environment vulnerability and its driving factors is of great significance to the precise management of the ecological environment.Taking 40 cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt as samples, and utilizing the statistical data from 2012 to 2022, based on the theoretical framework of "Exposure-Sensitivity-Resilience", we designed indicators to describe the ecological environment vulnerability of the cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and adopted a method of "layer by layer" to measure the ecological environment vulnerability.The Moran index, Kriging interpolation, and geodetic detector were used to analyze the spatial and temporal characteristics of the vulnerability and its driving factors.The study shows that: ① The overall environmental ecological vulnerability of the sample cities has improved significantly, with the proportion of cities with light and severe vulnerability jumping from 45% to about 70%, and the proportion of cities with high and heavy vulnerability decreasing from 55% to 30%.The cities with high and severe vulnerability are mainly in the upstream and downstream areas of the Yangtze River, but mainly in the downstream cities.The vulnerability status of these cities is relatively stable and has not shown significant improvement.② The ecological environment vulnerability of cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt is spatially correlated, which is manifested in a phenomenon of spatial aggregation of urban ecological environment vulnerability, and the ecological environment vulnerability of neighboring cities has a certain similarity.③ The level of economic development, urbanization, and scientific and technological inputs are the core factors driving the spatial and temporal evolution of the ecological environment vulnerability, and the influence of urbanization level on the vulnerability of the ecological environment has increased.The research results can provide a reference for the ecological environmental protection and sustainable development of cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.